My math teacher would prohibit us from using our own calculators on tests. He had a set of calculators that he kept for when we had tests, and he would hand them out--blanked--and we had to write our own programs on them in the 30mins before the test. His thought was if you could memorize your program to type it out before the test, you deserved to use it on the test. However, most of the students used the extra time to just do the test manually because it really wasen't smart to spend the time on typing out a program you would use maybe 3 times on a test.
Of course I got around that little restriction. I made a small PIC along with a 512KB EEPROM that would load all my programs onto the calculator through the link port that was the size of a matchbox. I could connect it, upload all my programs, and then use them on the tests. It had switches that would let me load the TI83 loadout (the calculators that he supplied) and my TI89 which I used on a daily basis. God, I loved that calc. I would still have it if not for the great coffee incident of 1999... Rest in Peace, TI89. You've done good, now it is time to rest.
Steam isn't that bad, as it keeps all my games in one place forever and I never have to worry about finding the disks later when I want to play for 15mins and then get over the nostalgia I was feeling before.
If Steam goes down and away forever? Then oh noes I have to search for 30 seconds to get the game I bought and paid for on Newsgroups.
What is bad about Steam is that there is no built-in torrent support to make the damn games download faster. That should be a GD requirement for any of these online-based apps where 2-4gb of data has to be downloaded before I can play. If you check the servers for my Key, then what does it matter if I download it from somewhere else?
But otherwise, this is fantastic! When are these being put into electric RC cars/trucks? Finally, we will have that same 'edge' as Nitro racers, without all that damn smoke!
I imagine it is that they are eating something that is dead was was incapable of flight--while they themselves have seemed to have mastered that particular aspect of escape.
Mod chips should not be illegal because of the 'might do' senario. A modchip can't play illegal games all by itself. It takes at least three steps in order to make it play stolen games:
1. Download it 2. Burn it 3. Put it in the console
Otherwise, it is just a chip with code on it. Nothing more. YOU have to make the decision to play a game that you do not legally own. Not the console or the modchip.
To continue your gun example... I might go out and kill someone with my gun.
Would making my gun fire faster want to make me kill more? No.
Would making it easier to conceal make me want to kill more? No.
Would it make it easier? Well, duh. That's not the issue. It was possible before I modded it to kill someone with my gun, and it is still possible after I mod it. All that is changed is how easy it was to kill someone with it.
It was possible to play games I don't own before--all I had to do was steal them from the store. Pretty easy, with how lax stores are these days with camera security and such... But the fact of the matter is that I had to steal something somehow. Not the console, the chip, or anything else. Me.
*** I used myself as an example, and I do not own any stolen games. Nor do I plan on owning any stolen games. And I don't plan on going out and killing anybody any time soon either. ****
Why? It costs them the same if their bandwidth is maximized or if nobody is downloading anything. The switches have to keep running, the wires have to be maintained. Everything is connected, and it's up. Not only that, TWC have to keep the wires up and running because that's what the CABLE comes over. Internet is second, Cable is first. I pay well over $150 a month for my cable+internet, this isin't enough for my usage per month?
It might cost them a little more in electricity, but I can't see it being such a huge deal that it would require this big of a change. This is for greedy companies, who want to line their pockets with even more of our money and nothing more.
If BT, Limewire et all were the problem, then they would simply put 'QoS' on all of their networking equipment and filter the BT traffic so that it has a lower priority than the other packets. Then all the HTTP requests would go through fine, and the problem would be solved.
But nooo, that would COST them money where as putting this change on how much you can download will only GAIN them money. Guess which one they are going forward with?
So, no hardware firewall for you then? I'm amazed your computer worked good enough to post on slashdot.
The last time I went on without any h/w firewall, I started getting hacks within minutes. Then I turned on the software firewall, and it went to maybe a couple more minutes.
It actually dosen't matter anymore. DD-WRT works on all HW revisions of the device now--albeit with quite a bit reduced functionality on the later builds... But QoS is not one of them.
Flash. Enable on the LAN+WAN side, and your golden.
It's all bad with VZW locking down their phones. By not letting every single phone have every single feature, people actually have to pick and choose phones based on how easy they are to hack to get the phone working with what they want.
By hanging onto the theory that people buy ringtones for $4.99 because there is no easy way to copy over the MP3 files because you disabled bluetooth OBEX... That's just crazy talk.
It's about time they were talking about openness. They've been a closed book for too many years.
"Why should Verizon care where you get your phone?"
Because they want to lock you into a contract with a cheap phone, and then shaft you on the minutes.
They also want to prevent you from not using a pay service they provide (VZ Navigator) for a free service (GPS+Google Maps) on their network. The list goes on and on too...
TXT vs Gmail/Gtalk GIN Games vs Free Java games GIN Apps vs Free Java Apps
"Charging you the same amount for access and not subsidizing your phone has to be more profitable for them then whatever they make on ringtones and wallpaper."
It has little or nothing to do with ringtones. Nobody AFAIK buys them. It has everything to do with keeping you locked in to over-paying for minutes for 2 years. It is long been established that in the USA mobile phone carriers practically give you the phones for free (at the time of writing, VZW had 13 phones for under $50) and they lock you into the contract so that they make up the cost of the phones on your minutes--at least by 3x the cost of the phone.
VZW didn't want to let you take your numbers to new carriers. They were against that, as people would stay locked in to a company just so they didn't lose their number. But the gooberment pulled a fast one and actually did something good for the people and not itself or businesses and forced all carriers to allow for number transfers.
Do you honestly think VZW is going to just sit by and let Google--who aces just about anything they put their Brain Tank to a task--build the most awesome phone in the world, and then have to support the network/device from Google?
I can attest that they birds are really that dumb. The same goes for Seagulls.
I work nearby where the bus-garage is located, and there is an absolutely huge amount of seagulls that flock to the parking lot because it is shiny smooth blacktop and they apparently are so stupid that they think it is water...
Anyway, they used to employ someone to scatter the birds so that the buses could leave and enter without the seagulls being crushed. The poor guy had to come out in a bee-keeper suit, because the little bastards would fly into his face--not to mention he was shat on quite a lot.
But then they found out that local laws preventing the killing of native birds do not explicitly apply to seagulls (or any maritime bird other than Pelicans, strangely) and they just started crushing them left and right when they buses needed to leave.
That's right: They just roll over them and create a path 'o death between the bus-barn and the exit gate. Then someone comes by with a bobcat and scrapes them up and dumps them into a dumpster. Then washes off the blood and guts with a pressure washer.
I was utterly shocked--SHOCKED!--when this first started happening. But after a few months, and the size of the flock never dwindled... It's almost scary. Where are they coming from? At least 100 or so are killed every day... they can't be laying eggs that quickly. can they?
Oh well. The local hippies are taking care of it now. They come in early and shoo the birds out of the way of the buses, so that there is minimal seagull carnage.
It was just interesting to see exactly how stupid these creatures are: They would AAWWWRRRK! at the oncoming bus which must have been going 2MPH before the rather loud SQUELCH of the bird being smooshed under the tires.
Okay, the carrier is really unimportant--use whatever one you want, really. It is the method of shipping that was the key point I was trying to make.
Others have said that it is not cost effective to ship shampoo--I would agree, unless you have special medicated shampoo or other liquid-type medical things. I remember recently a diabetic had his/her insulin taken away... Before that, a nursing mother had her milk taken away.
So while I wouldn't recommend flying without your insulin, it might be a good idea to ship one to where you are going--just in case.
While I admit that I have been lucky with the travel methods that I have taken so far... The best practice is still, and I would assume it would continue to do so for a very long time, is to ask for as little trouble as possible.
1. Show up early. Check in as early as you can, and be as ready as you can be for your flight. 2. Leave anything that you don't need on the airplane at home, or ship them ahead of time. 3. Be nice to everybody helping you. This not only helps the jaded TSA contractor want to hassle you less, but if you have to make a court case on how you were treated unfairly (or worst case, your family has to sue for wrongful death!) you being nice and courteous will go a lot farther than if you reacted badly.
Those are my three golden rules for travel. I try and stick by them as much as I can, but I realize that some people NEED their laptop on the plane to do work. Fine. But just expect a hassle--and get there early so you can still make your flight.
You want to send your laptop by UPS? You're a brave man! And your scheme won't work very well. When your package crosses the border, US Customs can still hold & search it, and they might charge you duty & taxes.
I have shipped my laptop, or one that I have sold across international borders many times--and only one was damaged beyond repair.
Since the laptop is encrypted, they will not be able to search any data on it and therefore will have no evidence (suspected or otherwise) to hold your laptop. If they do, then your backup of your data you made before you shipped it will become all the more valuable to you. (obviously I don't encrypt the ones I sell--that is illegal. The ones I sell are erased before I sell them.)
You can pay duty and taxes before you ship your item with UPS.
There was a ruling a while back I believe in Massachusetts, but the gist was if you encrypt your laptop you do not have to give out your PGP key because it is covered under the 5th amendment.
So... You UPS your encrypted laptop (and your clothes, shampoo, etc.) to wherever you are going and get on the airplane with as little technology as you are willing to lose when you travel.
I fail to see how DHS or TSA are still a problem for people traveling. I've done this for years (even before the whole "OH NOES! TERRORISTS!") and I have yet to lose an article of clothing or some bit of technology when I travel.
You missed my point entirely. You have to EDUCATE the user to know when to NOT 'Run As Administrator' because they are blindly clicking through prompts because there are so many of them for so many mundane things such as copying a file or deleting a shortcut.
Slashdot Mirror
My math teacher would prohibit us from using our own calculators on tests. He had a set of calculators that he kept for when we had tests, and he would hand them out--blanked--and we had to write our own programs on them in the 30mins before the test. His thought was if you could memorize your program to type it out before the test, you deserved to use it on the test. However, most of the students used the extra time to just do the test manually because it really wasen't smart to spend the time on typing out a program you would use maybe 3 times on a test.
Of course I got around that little restriction. I made a small PIC along with a 512KB EEPROM that would load all my programs onto the calculator through the link port that was the size of a matchbox. I could connect it, upload all my programs, and then use them on the tests. It had switches that would let me load the TI83 loadout (the calculators that he supplied) and my TI89 which I used on a daily basis. God, I loved that calc. I would still have it if not for the great coffee incident of 1999... Rest in Peace, TI89. You've done good, now it is time to rest.
Steam isn't that bad, as it keeps all my games in one place forever and I never have to worry about finding the disks later when I want to play for 15mins and then get over the nostalgia I was feeling before.
If Steam goes down and away forever? Then oh noes I have to search for 30 seconds to get the game I bought and paid for on Newsgroups.
What is bad about Steam is that there is no built-in torrent support to make the damn games download faster. That should be a GD requirement for any of these online-based apps where 2-4gb of data has to be downloaded before I can play. If you check the servers for my Key, then what does it matter if I download it from somewhere else?
Hell, even APT-P2P showed that was possible.
And then move it into a bigger car, I say.
But otherwise, this is fantastic! When are these being put into electric RC cars/trucks? Finally, we will have that same 'edge' as Nitro racers, without all that damn smoke!
Yeah, because, you know--testing In-House is sooo last century, and making sure that your code is lean and efficient from the start is hard.
Moran.
I imagine it is that they are eating something that is dead was was incapable of flight--while they themselves have seemed to have mastered that particular aspect of escape.
Obg link to bash.org
http://www.bash.org/?244321
Explains user-unsecurity.
You'll have to talk to Quato about getting that done.
How to leak source code.
Step one: Announce that you are going to go open source with your code.
Step two: Buy a new laptop, and copy the source code from a CD to the laptop.
Step three: Burn 100 copies of the source to CD's and mail it to 100 of your subscribers.
Step four: Destroy the data contained on the laptop by taking the hard drive out and melting it with a MAPP gas blowtorch. Same with the RAM.
Step five: mail the CD's by placing them in as many mailboxes that you can find that do not have security cameras pointing at them.
NOTE: Wear gloves, hat, long-sleeve shirt, pants, and if you really concerned--a full body wetsuit.
Burn all clothing you were wearing when burning the CD's and take a shower afterwards. ....
Or hire a intern and accidentally give him a copy of the source code.
The choice is yours.
Wow... I bet that XKCD will have a blag about that soon.
You forgot the last option:
* Shut up, and get me a beer.
nt
Mod chips should not be illegal because of the 'might do' senario. A modchip can't play illegal games all by itself. It takes at least three steps in order to make it play stolen games:
1. Download it
2. Burn it
3. Put it in the console
Otherwise, it is just a chip with code on it. Nothing more. YOU have to make the decision to play a game that you do not legally own. Not the console or the modchip.
To continue your gun example... I might go out and kill someone with my gun.
Would making my gun fire faster want to make me kill more? No.
Would making it easier to conceal make me want to kill more? No.
Would it make it easier? Well, duh. That's not the issue. It was possible before I modded it to kill someone with my gun, and it is still possible after I mod it. All that is changed is how easy it was to kill someone with it.
It was possible to play games I don't own before--all I had to do was steal them from the store. Pretty easy, with how lax stores are these days with camera security and such... But the fact of the matter is that I had to steal something somehow. Not the console, the chip, or anything else. Me.
*** I used myself as an example, and I do not own any stolen games. Nor do I plan on owning any stolen games. And I don't plan on going out and killing anybody any time soon either. ****
Why? It costs them the same if their bandwidth is maximized or if nobody is downloading anything. The switches have to keep running, the wires have to be maintained. Everything is connected, and it's up. Not only that, TWC have to keep the wires up and running because that's what the CABLE comes over. Internet is second, Cable is first. I pay well over $150 a month for my cable+internet, this isin't enough for my usage per month?
It might cost them a little more in electricity, but I can't see it being such a huge deal that it would require this big of a change. This is for greedy companies, who want to line their pockets with even more of our money and nothing more.
If BT, Limewire et all were the problem, then they would simply put 'QoS' on all of their networking equipment and filter the BT traffic so that it has a lower priority than the other packets. Then all the HTTP requests would go through fine, and the problem would be solved.
But nooo, that would COST them money where as putting this change on how much you can download will only GAIN them money. Guess which one they are going forward with?
So, no hardware firewall for you then? I'm amazed your computer worked good enough to post on slashdot.
The last time I went on without any h/w firewall, I started getting hacks within minutes. Then I turned on the software firewall, and it went to maybe a couple more minutes.
It actually dosen't matter anymore. DD-WRT works on all HW revisions of the device now--albeit with quite a bit reduced functionality on the later builds... But QoS is not one of them.
Flash. Enable on the LAN+WAN side, and your golden.
Not true.
Which is why I think there should be the Cyborg Olympics... Take care of the problem entirely.
Let fully-human people play against fully-human players.
Let Cyborgs play against Cyborgs.
And let fully autonomous robots play against fully autonomous robots.
It's all bad with VZW locking down their phones. By not letting every single phone have every single feature, people actually have to pick and choose phones based on how easy they are to hack to get the phone working with what they want.
By hanging onto the theory that people buy ringtones for $4.99 because there is no easy way to copy over the MP3 files because you disabled bluetooth OBEX... That's just crazy talk.
It's about time they were talking about openness. They've been a closed book for too many years.
"Not sure why this never took off... could have something to do with the less money that the cell providers would make."
Gee, you think?
"Why should Verizon care where you get your phone?"
Because they want to lock you into a contract with a cheap phone, and then shaft you on the minutes.
They also want to prevent you from not using a pay service they provide (VZ Navigator) for a free service (GPS+Google Maps) on their network. The list goes on and on too...
TXT vs Gmail/Gtalk
GIN Games vs Free Java games
GIN Apps vs Free Java Apps
"Charging you the same amount for access and not subsidizing your phone has to be more profitable for them then whatever they make on ringtones and wallpaper."
It has little or nothing to do with ringtones. Nobody AFAIK buys them. It has everything to do with keeping you locked in to over-paying for minutes for 2 years. It is long been established that in the USA mobile phone carriers practically give you the phones for free (at the time of writing, VZW had 13 phones for under $50) and they lock you into the contract so that they make up the cost of the phones on your minutes--at least by 3x the cost of the phone.
VZW didn't want to let you take your numbers to new carriers. They were against that, as people would stay locked in to a company just so they didn't lose their number. But the gooberment pulled a fast one and actually did something good for the people and not itself or businesses and forced all carriers to allow for number transfers.
Do you honestly think VZW is going to just sit by and let Google--who aces just about anything they put their Brain Tank to a task--build the most awesome phone in the world, and then have to support the network/device from Google?
I can attest that they birds are really that dumb. The same goes for Seagulls.
I work nearby where the bus-garage is located, and there is an absolutely huge amount of seagulls that flock to the parking lot because it is shiny smooth blacktop and they apparently are so stupid that they think it is water...
Anyway, they used to employ someone to scatter the birds so that the buses could leave and enter without the seagulls being crushed. The poor guy had to come out in a bee-keeper suit, because the little bastards would fly into his face--not to mention he was shat on quite a lot.
But then they found out that local laws preventing the killing of native birds do not explicitly apply to seagulls (or any maritime bird other than Pelicans, strangely) and they just started crushing them left and right when they buses needed to leave.
That's right: They just roll over them and create a path 'o death between the bus-barn and the exit gate. Then someone comes by with a bobcat and scrapes them up and dumps them into a dumpster. Then washes off the blood and guts with a pressure washer.
I was utterly shocked--SHOCKED!--when this first started happening. But after a few months, and the size of the flock never dwindled... It's almost scary. Where are they coming from? At least 100 or so are killed every day... they can't be laying eggs that quickly. can they?
Oh well. The local hippies are taking care of it now. They come in early and shoo the birds out of the way of the buses, so that there is minimal seagull carnage.
It was just interesting to see exactly how stupid these creatures are: They would AAWWWRRRK! at the oncoming bus which must have been going 2MPH before the rather loud SQUELCH of the bird being smooshed under the tires.
Okay, the carrier is really unimportant--use whatever one you want, really. It is the method of shipping that was the key point I was trying to make.
Others have said that it is not cost effective to ship shampoo--I would agree, unless you have special medicated shampoo or other liquid-type medical things. I remember recently a diabetic had his/her insulin taken away... Before that, a nursing mother had her milk taken away.
So while I wouldn't recommend flying without your insulin, it might be a good idea to ship one to where you are going--just in case.
While I admit that I have been lucky with the travel methods that I have taken so far... The best practice is still, and I would assume it would continue to do so for a very long time, is to ask for as little trouble as possible.
1. Show up early. Check in as early as you can, and be as ready as you can be for your flight.
2. Leave anything that you don't need on the airplane at home, or ship them ahead of time.
3. Be nice to everybody helping you. This not only helps the jaded TSA contractor want to hassle you less, but if you have to make a court case on how you were treated unfairly (or worst case, your family has to sue for wrongful death!) you being nice and courteous will go a lot farther than if you reacted badly.
Those are my three golden rules for travel. I try and stick by them as much as I can, but I realize that some people NEED their laptop on the plane to do work. Fine. But just expect a hassle--and get there early so you can still make your flight.
You want to send your laptop by UPS? You're a brave man! And your scheme won't work very well. When your package crosses the border, US Customs can still hold & search it, and they might charge you duty & taxes.
I have shipped my laptop, or one that I have sold across international borders many times--and only one was damaged beyond repair.
Since the laptop is encrypted, they will not be able to search any data on it and therefore will have no evidence (suspected or otherwise) to hold your laptop. If they do, then your backup of your data you made before you shipped it will become all the more valuable to you. (obviously I don't encrypt the ones I sell--that is illegal. The ones I sell are erased before I sell them.)
You can pay duty and taxes before you ship your item with UPS.
There was a ruling a while back I believe in Massachusetts, but the gist was if you encrypt your laptop you do not have to give out your PGP key because it is covered under the 5th amendment.
So... You UPS your encrypted laptop (and your clothes, shampoo, etc.) to wherever you are going and get on the airplane with as little technology as you are willing to lose when you travel.
I fail to see how DHS or TSA are still a problem for people traveling. I've done this for years (even before the whole "OH NOES! TERRORISTS!") and I have yet to lose an article of clothing or some bit of technology when I travel.
You missed my point entirely. You have to EDUCATE the user to know when to NOT 'Run As Administrator' because they are blindly clicking through prompts because there are so many of them for so many mundane things such as copying a file or deleting a shortcut.